While the main focus in the January jobs report was the surprising drop in unemployment from 8.5 percent to 8.3 percent and the better than expected hiring last month, there is other good news in the report that has gotten less attention.

The unemployment rate for African Americans fell to its lowest rate since March of 2009 and the rate for Hispanics dropped to its lowest rate since January of 2009. Obviously we still have a lot of work to do to speed up the economic recovery, get more Americans back to work, and reignite the American Dream. But this is good news. Here’s an analysis from the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

From the Center for Economic and Policy Research:

African Americans in particular saw an especially sharp decline in unemployment, with their overall rate falling by 2.2 percentage points to 13.6 percent, the lowest level since March of 2009. The unemployment rate for African American men over age 20 fell by 3.0 percentage points to 12.7 percent, the lowest level since November of 2008. The drop for women over age 20 was 1.3 percentage points to 12.6 percent. The unemployment rate for Hispanics dropped by 0.5 percentage points to 10.5 percent, the lowest since January of 2009. These numbers are erratic and may be partially reversed in future months.

The article went on to say:

The unemployment rate for all men and women over age 20 is now the same at 7.7 percent, the first time they have been equal since the recession began in December, 2007. There was a small rise in the number of workers unemployed involuntarily; although, this followed sharp declines the prior two months. The percentage of unemployment due to quits edged up slightly, but remains very low and even below the levels of October and November.
The establishment survey showed a gain of 243,000 jobs with the private sector adding 257,000.

Read the rest of the analysis here.